50 children abducted from school in Nigeria have escaped, authorities say

Fifty of the 303 schoolchildren abducted from a Catholic school in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state have escaped captivity and are now with their families, the school authority said Sunday, as the pope called for the immediate release of those still missing.

The schoolchildren, aged between 10 and 18, escaped individually between Friday and Saturday, according to the Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger state and the proprietor of the school.

A total of 253 schoolchildren and 12 teachers are still being held by the kidnappers, Yohanna said in a statement.

“We were able to ascertain this when we decided to contact and visit some parents,” he added.

Meanwhile, 38 worshippers kidnapped during a deadly church attack in central Nigeria’s Kwara state have regained their freedom, Kwara Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said in a statement.

"My first reaction was that I was numb and so heartbroken. This is something that we should all have rallied together as a nation and say 'never will anyone touch our children, and we will not go after them,'" said Aisha Yesufu, rights activist and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) Movement.

Gunmen had attacked the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara’s Eruku town on Tuesday, killing two people and taking others hostage.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, in a separate statement, attributed the freedom of the worshippers to “the efforts of security agencies” without giving further details.